Let’s Not Have a Discussion

How many times, in the past few decades, have you heard someone say that, “We need to have a public discussion about …,” about race, about gender, about any seemingly intractable problem in society?

The problem is that too many advocates of so-called discussion intend not to discuss, but to lecture, to command, and to silence dissent. Their definition of discussion is for them to dictate socialist policy, and for you to obediently comply. The moment you sully their ideology with fact, you are branded as a racist, a homophobe, and a misogynist Neanderthal who desires to throw granny off a cliff.

Here is a radical new idea. Let’s not have a discussion. Instead, let us boldly proclaim our principles, our ideals, and our policy positions. Let us do so despite the clamor of those who are offended by truth. Let us persist and persevere. Let us endure defamation and character assassination. Face it, these afflictions are going to occur in any case, in any case except our total surrender to the intolerable debauchery of the left.

The Founding Fathers held discussions for years before the discussions came to an end, and independence was declared, followed by a bloody eight-year war in which defeat seemed inevitable almost throughout.

We must regard ourselves as the founders of a restored republic, one which takes up the fallen flag of true human rights. We must advance that flag beyond the empty speeches of those who continually discuss. While they discuss, the republic crumbles.

Consider the discussions that have failed … failed because they were never honest to begin with. Let’s replace them with forthright declarations such as the following:

Government is not the solution. Too often, government is the problem (President Ronald Reagan). That government is best which governs least (President Thomas Jefferson). The power to tax is the power to destroy (Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall).

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator . . . (Declaration of Independence). By their creator, not by the government.

Poverty is not caused by race. Most poverty is caused by poverty-inducing and poverty-perpetuating behaviors. These behaviors are exacerbated by government policies which reward indolence, out-of-wedlock pregnancy, profligacy instead of thrift, and which induce a sense of entitlement instead of personal responsibility.

Crime is not caused by poverty, but a criminal climate is created by the government policies cited in item #3.

Equal opportunity is not advanced by enforcing equal outcomes. Life will never be entirely fair, but those who are treated unfairly can by effort and persistence overcome their circumstances, as so very many have in fact done. Government intervention almost always increases unfairness rather than reducing it.

Education of children is the responsibility of parents, not of the teacher unions.

The United States is founded upon the religious traditions of the Bible.

These statements, and the policies they produce, are but a beginning, the beginning of the restoration of the American republic to its highest ideals and potential. They are also the end— the end of the pretense of discussion.